Sunny skies bring visitors to Maple Fest

March 27, 2010|By SANDRA LEPLEYDaily American Correspondent

Alex Vay, 8, of Pittsburgh, takes a walk on the wild side at the 63rd Pa. Maple Festival in Meyersdale on Saturday. Vay, whose parents Gregg and Lisa Vay stand nearby, took part in 18th Century games on the grounds of Maple Festival Park. Ryan Cuba, a Colonial re-enactor from Cumberland, Md., makes sure that Vay doesn’t lose his balance on the stilts. (Photo by Sandra Lepley)

For yet another weekend, sunny skies brought a number of visitors to the 63rd Pa. Maple Festival on Saturday.

While Maple Festival Park and the Lions Pancake House had non-stop traffic all day, the biggest draw of the festival was the grand feature parade at 3 p.m. on Center Street.

Streets were lined with festival-goers wearing light jackets and sunglasses and the parade entries marched on for an hour and a half.

Just a few weeks ago, Paul and Terrie Werner of Meyersdale, coordinators for the parade, weren’t sure how many entries they would receive because the weather outside was frightful.

“Entries were coming in slow,” said Paul Werner. “But then all of a sudden, they started snowballing in. People realized that winter was over and we were real pleased with the turnout.”

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Werner said that the groups and businesses that had floats had a short amount of time to put everything together. There were about 95 entries overall including more than 15 fire departments, five musical groups, four twirling groups and two horse units. There were alsoseveral local businesses and organizations.

“The day couldn’t have been any nicer,” Werner said. “It was a little cool but seasonable for this time of year and the sunshine made everyone feel better.”

For Terri Dively of Confluence and her grandchildren, Zoey Delaney, 6, and Tessa Delaney, 3, the parade meant lots of candy. Dively attended the festival with Ervin Sweitzer of Grantsville, Md.

“This is all about family time and getting away from computers and television,” Dively said. “We are out under open skies enjoying Mother Nature and enjoying history at the same time.”

In Maple Festival Park, activities were going on everywhere. Gregg and Lisa Vay of Pittsburgh brought their children, Lauren, 5, and Alex, 8, and Gregg’s parents, Darlene and Dody Vay, for family fun.

“I work for IBM so it’s nice to leave all that behind for a day and concentrate on family,” Gregg said. “We are stepping out as a family today and being together. This festival is historic, nostalgic and reminds me of a simpler time even though we know things weren’t easier back then.”

The Vay family enjoyed 18th Century games in the park, where Ryan Cuba, a re-enactor from Cumberland, Md., helped children walk on stilts, play with rolling hoops and pull each other off blocks in a game called tilt.

“These children get to play games that don’t involve batteries,” said Cuba, who has attended the festival for a few years showing historical games to children as part of his Colonial exhibit. Last weekend at the festival, Cuba re-enacted in the World War II era.

“This type of re-enacting gives people ideas,” said Cuba. “Sometimes, people will use these games at their family reunions and Boy Scout groups will reproduce them for their jamborees. This festival is a great opportunity for education all the way around.”

The festival concludes today with the Antique Auto Show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Main and Center streets, the tractor games at 10 a.m. on Grant Street and the annual horse-pulling contest at 1 p.m. at the fairgrounds.